Cracked Fiberglass Bathtub: Repair or Replace?

Learn what your options are for repairing or replacing a fiberglass bathtub. Find out how a cracked fiberglass tub can be patched, and how Corian and Silestone are attractive replacements for a damaged fiberglass bathtub.

LESLIE: Calling in from Rhode Island and listening in on WPRO we’ve got David. What’s happening at your money pit?

DAVID: I just bought this house off my mother in November.

TOM: I hope you gave her a good price. (chuckles)

DAVID: Yeah. No, I did; I did. You know, she was good to me, too. I got the hometown discount.

TOM: Alright.

DAVID: But the bathtub is, I guess, fiberglass[1] and what happened was it cracked in the middle. So it’s kind of a two-part thing. First of all, is there any kind of epoxy that I could just do like a temporary fix on that? But the bigger thing is I want to do – I want to take the tub right out and I want to put in like a shower; no tub at all.

TOM: OK.

DAVID: And I was talking to somebody and I got a price of like $5,000. It’s kind of they do it in one day, in-and-out type of thing.

TOM: Right.

DAVID: And then I was talking – I work on a movie set and I was talking to one of the carpenters and he says I should be looking at Corian[2]; would be better.

TOM: Mm-hmm, yep.

DAVID: It might be the same amount. But is that – I’m just trying to get – is that like the going rate for doing something like that?

TOM: Well, it’s probably a going rate for doing a bathroom remodel[3]. Some of these bathroom retrofit companies do have sort of a one-day approach where there’s a lot of action in one day and gets the job done fairly quickly. You know, $5,000 to remodel a bathroom[4] is probably an average price. I don’t know what type of remodeling[5] you’re talking about doing here and I can’t really tell you if it’s a good price or not just a good price.

As to your earlier question about a way to repair a fiberglass tub, you can repair it; it’s not pretty, but what you do is you can go to an autobody store – like a Pep Boys or something like that – and you can buy fiberglass material and the fiberglass resin and actually repair it …

DAVID: Ah.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and do the patch yourself.

DAVID: Right.

TOM: Yeah, repair it the same way you would repair a car body or a boat body. I actually have had to do that to a shower basin once that cracked on me that I wasn’t ready to replace yet and it works great. I mean it really is a smelly job but it does work very, very well. So that will certainly get you through it.

DAVID: Right.

TOM: But in terms of the replacement beyond that, yeah, Corian is a gorgeous material …

LESLIE: Yeah, and you know what’s interesting? Corian is one of those solid surface materials and there’s another company that does something similar called Silestone[6] and they actually, at the builders show this past January, introduced a Silestone shower pan and shower walls …

DAVID: Wow.

LESLIE: … which come I forget in which sizes but pretty much standard sizes or can be customized to whatever size you might need and they’re really beautiful; they ‘re very, very durable; they’re scratch-resistant; they’re stain-resistant and it works out really well for the prices. It’s not going to be terribly inexpensive but it’s not going to be overly expensive either and it will be a gorgeous bathroom addition.

DAVID: And that’s the thing because I looked at some of the model pictures and it seemed like a one-size-fit-all type of – I’m not even sure what the material was …

TOM: Right.

DAVID: … and the carpenter said, “Look …” You know? And that’s the thing. I don’t want to do it fast. I want to do it right and I want it – the stone you’re talking about, that’s really what I wanted; a different kind of look like that with like the full-body shower coming down.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm, and it looks very similar. You can get the Corian or the Silestone in a variety of colorations where it almost looks like a terrazzo where there’s like speckling into it or there’s even some that looks like there’s a mirror speckle into it; almost like a granite. It’s really up to you to find something that works. I think they offer something like 40 different choices from Silestone and Corian has something similar to that; so there’s a lot of options.

DAVID: Yeah, I know. I’ve got to actually find the time to get somebody in and – because I don’t want to do it in a hurry, but my main thing is this is the first time I’ve ever owned a house so it’s all new to me and I didn’t really know – trying to get, you know, like – that’s like the going rate, you’re saying; right in that range; like an average thing. I’m sure I could spend a lot more and a lot less.

TOM: Yeah, you certainly could. David, why don’t you do this? Why don’t you go to a kitchen-and-bath showroom and see if you can work with a certified kitchen-and-bath designer[7]. These folks are certified by the Kitchen and Bath Industry Association and can take a look at your bathroom and give you some ideas as to what’s practical; what kind of price range you’re talking about; how long it would take to get the job done and really get you in a position where you can have a good overview of all of the materials and options that are available. Because as you say, you’re not in a hurry; you just want to do it once, do it right and not have to do it again; just be able to enjoy it.

DAVID: That’s a great tip because I didn’t even know those people existed. (Leslie chuckles)